rays of sunlight
by exquisitedarkness
Summary: an all powerful witch, a calloused vampire and thousands of miles to forget where they came from. sorta canon, sorta not.
1. Chapter 1

prompt: an all powerful witch, a calloused vampire and thousands of miles to forget where they came from.

pairing: stefan x bonnie

word count: 1,091

* * *

"You really should quit, you know."

Pale fingers criss-cross trails of red across her skin as he reaches for her, drags her by the ankles of her two naked legs to the edge of the bed and plucks the cigarette from between her pouty, swollen lips. Her hair is arranged in a fashion of the highest post-coital design and she's got purpling bruises across her chest and collarbone. She frowns and he mimics her sour expression mockingly, even as her skin sings a sweet fragrance to his senses.

Vanilla. Sweat. Sex.

 _Blood._

He's surprised she'd let him in this far, close enough to kiss, to touch, to bite. But ever since they'd climbed into his cherry red porsche and kicked up dust on their way out of Mystic Falls, she has unfolded before him like a flower, blossoming in spring. She chooses their destinations and their adventures. He lets her.

He can't decide if he wants to pluck her for himself or allow her to keep growing higher into the sky and leave him behind on earth. He supposes, with the immense amount of power she has coiled tight in that little body of hers, that the choice really isn't his at all.

"You really should stop telling me what to do. I've barely started."

"It's poison." he murmurs, and then pulls her up to suck her bottom lip between his teeth. She groans in spite of herself, before sending a zing of electricity up his chest with one fingernail. He's grown used to this. Her tiny displays of magic fascinate him just as much as they turn him on.

She's never violent and there is never pain. She gives him just _enough_ for it to be erotic, to be exhilarating.

" _You're_ poison," she fires back.

"The best kind." he smirks, daring her disagree. She does not comment on how his lips curling upwards screams of his brother, of the genetic traits that have not been lost after all. Instead she allows him to crawl between her thighs, iridescent jade eyes trained solely on the contraband between his fingers.

Smoking had not become her thing until she'd decided to stop being so self-righteous and try everything once. Yolo-Bonnie had appeared around day two of their adventure and ushered in her existence with many new experiences. One of them was buying a pack at a gas station somewhere in Tennessee.

The first time had not gone well. She'd coughed until her lungs felt burnt out and withered, amongst a slew of expletives that had him fighting back a grin. The second was not so bad. The third time she and Stefan had shared one. It was their third week on the road, before they'd begun to exchange more than just words and glances. He'd felt her eyes on him, mesmerized as lips touched lips secondhand. As his mouth wrapped around the thin white stick, she'd announced that she thought she'd finish the pack after all.

She'd smoked them all sporadically since then, making the pack last. He just so happens to know that this is her last one.

"Maybe it's time we find you a new habit."

She pouts. "But I like this one for now."

"And I like _you_."

Her teeth make an appearance to nibble the flesh of her bottom lip, though he does not get a response. He doesn't need one. Everything plays out so clearly across her face. Driving across state lines has unveiled a whole new Bonnie Bennett but flickers of her old self still come out to play once in awhile. She can be pensive, thoughtful, hesitant - just for a moment - and then the emotions always flit away.

He likes it. He'd never considered the possibility of rolling around in the sheets with a witch - _this witch -_ but he enjoys how easily she can volley between her humanity and the supernatural power racing through her blood. It's not so difficult for a witch as it is for a vampire, after all her baser instincts are not to kill and maim in order to survive, but it is incredible all the same.

She can call hellfire down from the skies, strip the flesh from his bones with one word, but her thin fingers still reach for his warmth in her sleep. He always pulls her closer.

"I want you to live forever. Sans chemicals and tar in your lungs." He says, and his tone is nonchalant, joking even, but his heart is not quiet. He decides to digest what this means at a later date. "Don't you want to live forever?"

She turns up her nose in disgust. "If I did then I'd have to be like you."

Her disdain for his nature does not hurt his feelings. She has long made it her feelings in regard to vampirism clear, and he can't fault her. She has suffered much but she has also made exceptions for the few lucky enough to earn her respect, her affection. He has been blessed to be one of them.

"I'm not so bad, am I?"

"I don't know, _Ripper_ ," she tosses the name at him with a teasing glare, even as her ankle draws a line up the back of his thigh. He has not been a Ripper for a long time, having finally allowed himself the chance to _be_ without the unending self-punishment. Coming to terms with his hunger has made existence much more pleasant. She's quite aware of this.

She encircles him with her toned legs and constricts until they are skin the skin. The heat of her already begins to grow thicker, sweeter in the air.

He rolls the cigarette between his fingers and does not look away from her steady gaze as he swiftly chucks it carelessly over his shoulder. A breath of pleasure slips out of her mouth when he grabs her jaw without warning, pressing blunt teeth to her pulsing vein. The scent of her blood is tantalizing but she is even more so. His tongue and lips begin a trail of kisses that will end far, far away from the start. Even now, he pictures the finish line and his body reacts accordingly.

Hours later, the sun disappears over the horizon and they're still naked, still lazily spread out amongst the sheets. She hums to herself while fingers comb through his hair softly, nails grazing his scalp.

"I suppose you're not so bad after all." she whispers in agreement.

He only smiles and pulls her closer to him in the dark.

* * *

hi. idk where this came from, lol. more 2 come, maybe. bye.


	2. Chapter 2

Prompt: they don't talk about it, but they do something about it.

Pairing: stefan x bonnie

Word count: 1558

Note: this series is not gonna follow canon and will jump around throughout. the sleeping beauty curse exists but other factors play into it and that's about it. each part will explain a little more but steroline is a no go and the heretics were annoying to me anyways, so they don't exist.

* * *

She was in love with his brother.

He figures it out on his own.

Her lime green painted toes curl and uncurl on the dashboard as they speed down the highway and her chin rests in her palm. Her arm is propped up against the window and the air between them is thick. Tense.

This morning she'd woken up screaming. He'd been just finishing up in the shower, unable to lie still on the bed any longer and come running out with a towel around his waist to find her thrashing uncontrollably amongst the bed sheets.

Three days since they'd disappeared from Mystic Falls without a word of warning to anyone they know. Three days and every night in the middle had filled up with nightmares. He won't enter her mind - can't without permission because he wants to gain her full trust, so he doesn't get to see the extent of her terror. Just the thrashing and of course, the muttering is impossible to ignore. His brother's name is every other word.

 _Damon,_ she'd whimpered much to his fascination, clutching the sheets with clawed fingers. _Don't go, don't leave me here. Please, not again. I need you._

She'd repeated her desperate pleadings like a broken record until he'd peeled the sheets away and shook her awake. Like the previous nights, she'd only wiped the dampness from her forehead and muttered her tired thanks.

Had she spent every night since her return this way?

She offers him no details. No explanation. Nothing.

He supposes there's got to be something there - something real that occurred between the two of them in the prison world. Obviously she'd endured a traumatic period of loneliness, but before that she and Damon had been stuck there together and it had changed their dynamic. Upon his solo return, his brother had worked hard to bring her back, had not hesitated to forego an early start to a white picket fence existence with Elena in lieu of saving her life. The selflessness of the act had not been lost on Stefan.

However, neither of them had given any other true indication of anything more. After Elena had been laid to temporary rest, he'd never questioned the source of Bonnie's distress beyond the most obvious one - the loss of her childhood best friend forever (sort of). He debates combing through his memory to evaluate each and every recent interaction between his brother and his current traveling companion but eventually decides against it.

He won't poke that bear unless she does it first. If there's another side to the story, he'll let her paint it for him. After all, their departure had been about liberation not rooting around in the past.

Still, the curiosity lingers.

"You hungry?" he asks, to break up the silence. She wrinkles her nose and then shrugs.

"I could eat."

"Then let's."

"Alright."

The nearest exit leads to a gas station, followed by a dusty boulevard and a worn down iHop. Stefan orders nothing but a mug of coffee. Bonnie orders buttermilk pancakes but when the enthusiastic waitress finally brings them out from the kitchen, her expression goes flat. She prods at them with her fork, before casting a glance at him.

"Aren't you hungry? I mean like ... _hungry?"_

He hasn't had anything to drink in about two days and it had been bagged. There are a few more bags left in a cooler in the trunk but he wants to drink them sparingly. Blood bank robbery isn't high on his list of things to do currently, despite its necessity. His control is fine though.

"I'm okay."

Bonnie eyes him suspiciously. "Are you?"

He can't resist."Are _you?"_

His words are pointed and sharp, emphasized by the raising of his thick brows and her nostrils flare. She knows he's onto her game, trying to escape her own demons by focusing on rectifying his. But Stefan has learned to deal (mostly) with blood now. His demons are caged and silent, while hers rage on in the dream world.

"I-" her mouth opens and closes again, green eyes everywhere but ahead, before she grabs the fork and shovels in a mound of pancake.

He rolls his eyes before leaning forward and folding his hands on the table.

"You can't hide, you know."

She chews heartily, ignoring his statement until she has swallowed and taken a gulp of her own coffee. "Hide what, Stefan?"

"Your emotions." he answers bluntly. "Everything you're thinking right now is pretty much playing out like a movie on your face. It always has."

Her answering glare is fierce. "Stay out of my head. I thought we were doing this for fun. I don't need a Salvatore therapy session."

"I'm not in it." He replies earnestly, palms up in the sign of surrender. "Your thoughts are your own and I won't invade them. But you're bothered. You've been quiet all day and this morning was sort of scary. If you want to talk about the dreams you've been having, I'm here to listen."

Bonnie maintains eye contact for a solid ten seconds, but he knows she has slipped away to somewhere else. Finally, she looks away with a frown edging at the corners of her mouth. A tendril of hair falls across her cheek and she nudges it behind her ear with a sigh.

"I… I appreciate it Stefan, but I just - I don't think you'll understand."

"Why not?"

Her lips come together thinly and she looks him dead in the eye. "You've never lived your life as a second choice."

He wants to contradict her statement - Elena had chosen Damon over him - but some part of him still believes Damon wouldn't have had a chance at her heart if he hadn't fallen off the wagon. Stefan was first and only first until he wasn't anything. For so long she had chosen him and then when Elena had moved on, she had moved on wholeheartedly. There was no choice, no option. It was over.

Bonnie picks up her fork again, swirling it around and around in the sticky maple syrup accumulating in globs on her plate. For a moment, Stefan can hardly recognize her until he realizes that her expression, her behaviors are all that of resignation. She has given up, accepted her position whatever it might be, in the circumstances they left behind and now all that remains is the hardest part.

Moving on.

He has no real response for her other than to nod slowly in agreement. "I guess...you're right. Is that what you feel like you are? A second choice?"

She lets out a bitter, strangled sort of laugh. "Look, we don't have to talk about this. I don't want to, honestly. I made a decision, I did things, I knew the consequences would suck. I just didn't care. Now I'm dealing with them. It's a process."

"Do you regret them?"

He can tell she was not expecting this question but her answer is honest.

Her back straightens the tiniest bit against the booth cushion. "No. I don't. But I got out of hell only to find that it wasn't so bad after all. Real life could be worse." She shakes her head. "But that's going to change. I wanted to get out of Mystic Falls because I'm not a second choice in any sense and I won't be anymore. I am my own first pick. I'm going to live the way I want because it's what I want, including the way I use my magic. No more catering to anyone else - at least for awhile."

"Then I'm going to make sure you stick to that." He says simply, no arguments. He won't pry any further; he can see that this means everything to her. She's tired and worn and he gets it. He's spent the majority of his existence riding a rollercoaster of highs and lows, growing exhausted with living.

It's time they both get to enjoy it, and he has a feeling that giving her what she needs will be exactly what _he_ needs.

She looks up sharply, surprise lighting her features, and then something else that flares briefly and vanishes once more. And then she smiles. It's a tiny thing. A little sliver of white teeth shine through and he has to offer her one in return.

"Thank you, Stefan."

"You're welcome, Bonnie."

"So," he takes one final swig of his terrible coffee, wishing briefly for some AB+ and by the time his mouth his empty, the heaviness has left them altogether. "Can we get the fuck out of this shitty town and find something fun to do, now? I mean, we can't go anywhere until you pick the destination."

"Really?"

"Hell yeah. We've been pretty much driving in a straight line for the past few days. This starts now, Bennett."

Her satisfied smirk is wicked; a pretty mixture of mischief and untapped beauty and has he ever truly looked at her before this very moment? She wipes the corner of her full lips with a napkin, Stefan drops a fifty on the table and they abandon her ghosts in the parking lot. The road curves like the swing of her hips and they drive until the sun sinks low into the Mississippi.

That night she sleeps and, for once, dreams of nothing at all.

* * *

This is fun. I love them. I love Stefan a lot, honestly. I just really think they wreak some real havoc together and I just wanna explore it _all._

 _also,_ i like writing stuff with road trips? probably because my desire for adventure is stifled, sorry.


End file.
